I was speaking at a church on Easter Sunday and wanted to write an Easter song to go with my talk about how humans, for some mysterious reason, seem to resist transformation. I came up with “Mister Caterpilar” and it has become one of my favorite songs to do on my one-man shows. It is so simple and yet, so profound.

It will be on my forthcoming CD, “A Brand New World.”

MISTER CATERPILLAR

As Mister Caterpillar moseyed down the road
He stopped and had a chat with Mister Toad
By and by a butterfly came flitting overhead
The caterpillar pointed up and said

You’ll never get me up in one of those things
They’re pretty as can be but check those wings
They’re thin as onionskin, oh, it just makes me cringe
You’ll never get me up in one of those things

I’m gonna keep my 50 feet here on the ground
They may be slow but they get me around
I’ve always been afraid of heights and I’ll add one more thing
It looks too much like work to flap those wings

If God had meant for us to fly we’d be born with wings
And if that thing should crash your goose is cooked
I’m much too old to try to change, no flying’s not for me
I’m doing quite well crawling don’t you see

I really wrote “His Amazing Grace” to be done in the style of the old James and Martha Carson songs (mandolin and guitar duet). However, it didn’t work out in the studio so I just did it as a country/gospel song.

I pitched it to Paul Craft and he got the Lewis Family to record it. They did it very well and said on their DVD that they opened their shows with it.

From DR’s CD “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand” (Buy It Here) and the Lewis Family CD “So Fine” and their DVD “At Home With Family and Friends.”
~~~~~~
HIS AMAZING GRACE

I have found a Friend who walks with me
Down life’s unending road
His amazing grace has set me free
And it satisfies my soul

His grace
His amazing grace
Satisfies my soul
His grace
His amazing grace
Has made me whole

I can ne’er forget how He came to me
In the dark night of my soul
He picked me up so tenderly
And carried me to His fold

If you know Him, too, sing along with me
Let the hallelujahs roll
Sing amazing grace how sweet the sound
That satisfies my soul
Tag
Sing amazing grace how sweet the sound
That satisfies my soul

Ruthie Steele and I wrote this song using Instant Messages. We were IMing one night when I told her I wrote a book titled “Things That Rally Matter” and she said, “That would make a good song!” So we made one.

Ruthie is a wordmaster. It is fun to write with her. Her brother, Max D. Barners, was one of Nashville’s top writers for decades. I think Ruthie is every bit as good.

She’s a Republican but I love her. And Republicans need love, too!

We tend to forget when hard economic times come to us, like they came to the man in this song, they come to all of us — Democrats and Republicans, black and white, Baptists and Unitarians, educated and uneducated. In the final analysis, God and each other is all we have got.

Let us cherish one another.
~~~
THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
By Ruthie Steele & Dalton Roberts
From the Dalton Roberts CD “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand”

It’s midnight and he’s at the kitchen table
Going through a pile of unpaid bills
He won’t feel like getting up tomorrow
And going in to work, ah but he will
He chooses two to pay
And puts the rest of them away
They’ll have to wait until the end of June
When overtime kicks in he’ll have the money
To pay the rest and paint the living room

He lays down his pen and all his worries
There’s nothing else that he can do tonight
So right there sitting at the kitchen table
He says his prayers and then turns out the light
The kids are sound asleep
He prays the Lord their souls to keep
His woman’s lying waiting in their bed
He knows she’ll hold him tight
And rub his shoulders tonight
And God will help him keep his family fed

As the king of Willow Circle counts his blessings
He feels the touch of gentle, loving hands
He may not have some things he really wanted
But he has the things that matter to a man
The things that really matter to a man

Someone reminded me that Jesus never wrote anywords as far as we know. As a songwriter I wondered why he didn’t write some songs. Then I realized that He does write great songs … inside of us. So I pulled off Amnicola Highway and wrote this song. It is on my “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand” CD.

JESUS WRITES SONGS, TOO
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music

I tried to write a little song about Jesus
But just couldn’t find the words
I could hear the melody, the harmony
But I couldn’t write what I heard
I cried out in the holy spirit
Jesus help me writ my song
He said, “Son, the song you hear inside
I wrote for you alone.”

Yes, Jesus writes songs, too
He writes His songs on our inner spirit
Each song is a personal symphony
For no one else can hear it
You can’t find words for love unending
Or peace that passeth understanding
Jesus sings through you
Yes, Jesus write songs, too

I tried to put down on a piece of paper
The music moving in my soul
But it was a stream of living water
My little cup couldn’t hold
I heard Jesus say, “Lay down your pen
And let my song come through
You’ve written a lot of songs for me
And I’m writing this song for you.”

When someone beautiful enters our life, it effect the way we see the world. I discovered that the Lily of the Valley makes everything in the world become brighter and sweeter. That’s why I wrote this song ad it is one of my favorites. From my CD, “I Wonder What He Wrote in he Sand.”
~~~~~
JESUS PAINTS A BEAUTIFUL LIFE
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music (BMI)

A rose can make me sigh
With a drop of dew in the corner of its eye
Sometimes a sunset can make me laugh and cry
Jesus paints a beautiful life

A mother’s first look at her child
Is Jesus smiling through her eyes
The first time a baby laughs it’s the voice of Jesus Christ
Jesus paints a beautiful life

The magic touch of th Master’s brush
Makes old things become new
He can make a masterpiece
Out of common clay like me and you

An old man with Christ in his eyes
Can make me really high
He can almost take you to heaven when he dies
Jesus paints a beautiful life

One of the most interesting articles I have read recently was “The Secret of Intuition” by Sophy Burnham in Science of Mind Magazine.

She said something that startled me: she said in seeking intuition we should use all four brain waves in harmony.

I wondered, “How can we do that? They are all so different. Beta waves are spiked and unpeaceful while alpha waves are pleasant and smooth, theta waves are pre-sleep and delta waves are sleep!”

Finally, I experimented with something I am seeking intuition on. I ran it through my beta waves to see what beta said about it, then I eased my thoughts into alpha to see what alpha said about it, then before I went to sleep I sought the views of theta and requested of my subconscious that I be able to dream about it. The dream has not yet come but I am sure it will. I can report that each kind of brain wave gave me a different insight.

Sophy says when we use all four brain waves we will have have what the Buddha called “the awakened mind.”

She says when you are seeking intuition we must listen for it: “Turn off the television and radio, shut down the computer and put away the Iphone, Ipad and earphones. Take a walk in the country. Sit on a rock by a stream and watch the water flowing. Do nothing. Take a nap.”

She also says, “The greatest enemy of intuition is a brilliant intellect” but she goes on to describe it as someone who takes pride in their intellect and leans on it almost exclusively. I can see why such a person would not be seeking the insights of intuition. I know several brilliant intellects and most of them would disparage intuition,

My mother was a brilliant person but her intuition was brilliantly honed. I saw her intuitive insights play out many times in her life.

My sister is also intuitive. In thinking about both of them I can see that intuition comes to those who value it. In all spheres of life it is the things we value that come to us, so why would intuition be any different?
I think I have not valued it enough so I have not had a lot of success with it. Since reading Sophy’s article, I have decided to value it more.

I know it can be learned because dreams are one form of intuition and I have been a student of dreams for many years. I have directed my subconscious to deliver dream answers to me and it did. Some of the most clear and vivid dreams have been those that “Sub” delivered to me.

When you work with “Sub” to get answers, you will have a very vivid dream. In normals daily consciousness many dreams will be fuzzy and will come in snippets. A Sub-induced dream with a needed message will be so clear you will know it is clearly intuitional.

The best book I have found on interpreting dreams is Wilma Tanner’s The Marvelous Magnificent Miraculous World of Dreams.

People who knew me during my years of agnosticism sometimes ask what turned me in another direction. I will try to answer that.

One thing was experimenting with a statement by Ernest Holmes, a turn of the century mystic and author of the classic, “Science of Mind.”. He said, “There is a power for good in the Universe and we can use it.” I found when I was doing good and trusting in this power, it responded to me.

I might add that I have been working with it for many years now and it continues to respond to my faith in it.

Another thing that moved my life in a different direction was a prayer that God become as real to me as he was when I was a child. I have written about the time I spent in my “honeysuckle tabernacle” and how real God was to me there.

I know how mercurial human nature is. I also know how deceptive it can be.. I have thought back to those years to see how real God was to me. I have no physical miracles to report from that time of my life but I do remember clearly how real the presence of God was to me.

When my son enters my home, I feel his presence. It is unique and very special. When dear friends enter my home, I sense their presence in a special way. Why would it be any different with God? God’s presence is one of the most unique and special things we experience in this life.

I was 45 years old when I prayed that prayer that God become real to me and asked for doors to open for me. I was unemployed (had been for months) and living in a one-room apartment. A few months later I was elected county executive. The way doors opened for me and the way I became aware of the presence of God was the most incredible series of miracles in my life.

If you ran for office against a PH.D in political science, and again against a multi-millionaire and didn’t have enough money to get elected dogcatcher, what would you conclude? You might quickly decide, as I did, that God can become very active in human affairs. You might conclude that God had work for you to do.

People often ask me how I resisted the temptations of public life — the bribes and deals often offered to elected people. Yes, I had many of them. But when you have just made a deal with God that you will live for him and his people if he will help you, you are welded into a place where your only desire is to do God’s will and to help his people. It’s no problem to turn down temptation.

Just to feel the presence of God in your life keeps you from betraying the people and your God. “Your” God has become special to you. His presence is so real. You do not want to do anything to lose or dim your awareness of it.

I simply took Jesus word that if I opened the door He would come in and sup with me. That word “sup” means many things but it certainly means to fellowship and become real to us.

Emmet Fox said, “Sooner or later you must put God first in your life…. true spiritual development must become the only thing that matters … You will do a lot less running about after things that do not matter.”

Isn’t it strange how a man can predict your life so completely? Emmet perfectly described how my life turned into a craving for God experiences. It seemed to me that my times with God were the times that I looked forward to each day I lived.

I empathize with Ernest Holmes statement that we do not need to prepare to meet God because we are meeting God each moment of our life. It is not a fearsome thing. It is a magnificently beautiful and awesome thing.

Those times when a tear of joy trickles down your face when you see something too beautiful for words. Like I said in one of my songs, “A rose can make me sigh, with a drop of dew in the corner of its eye. And sometimes a sunset can make me laugh and cry.”

I have moments of the awareness of Jesus hanging our with me when I literally freeze in place, not wanting anything to change. At least for those few moments, all is well in my world. Jesus can be as real as anything on Earth. I think he longs for our fellowship like we long for His.

In one place He said behold, I stand at the door and knock and if any man open the door, we will come in an sup with him. I have always wondered who the “we” is. my only answer is Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He said when He left that He was leaving the Holy Spirit to remind us of the words He had spoken to us. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus become real to us.

When I resumed my search for spiritual truth and reality at age 45, the only thing I asked of God was to let Jesus become real to me like he had been when I was a boy. It happened both instantaneously and gradually. Within days I was aware that Jesus had returned to me. Then the realization started growing. It has intensified over these years.

One agnostic friend asked, “How do you know it’s not ll in your head? I thought, “Where do most of the truths and realities of life dawn on us? In our heads! That’s what our heads are for. Anything that warms your head and mind ends up warming your heart, too.

Yes, Emmet is exactly right. When we devote our lives to spiritual development, lots of unimportant things drop by the wayside.

When we are freshly fed, we do not go seeking food. When we feast on the Lord, our appetite for many trivial things disappears.

I see people living daily in drama and turmoil and I wonder why they have closed themselves off to peace. Peace is available. When would anyone not take it? Jesus said, “My peace I leave unto you. Not as the world gives.” It is different in quality. He also said when we want to go a step beyond peace and move into joy, “My joy I leave unto you.”